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Prepare for your IM.1.10 technology needs

HIM Connection, May 4, 2004

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Although the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) does not explicitly direct organizations to use technology in its IM.1.10 standard, the use of technology should be a consideration in the ongoing assessment, planning, and implementation of your information-management processes.

IM.1.10 requires your organization to plan and design your information-management processes to meet internal and external needs. Your HIM department can give an accurate assessment of its own needs, thereby helping your compliance officer better evaluate the entire facility.

Whether you're planning on computer- or paper-based processes, do your part by considering the following points for your current and future needs for information-management processes:

* Your organization's type, structure, and complexity

* The needs of information users (e.g., governance, leaders, clinical staff, patients, patients' families, payers, and purchasers)

* The data and information needed to support planning

* The data and information needed for research and education

* Any national and state guidelines for data-set parity and connectivity amongst information systems

* The requirements for internal and external transmission of information and your organization's reporting needs over time (longitudinal reporting)

* The data needed for continuous performance improvement

* The requirements for comparing your organization's performance with internal past performance, for benchmarking, and for comparing your practice guidelines or parameters

* The appropriateness and cost of various technologies

* The need to support customer and supplier relationships

* Analysis of resource use for patients with particular clinical problems to enhance the cost effectiveness of care

* The enhancement of work-flow activity

* The information requirements to support clinical and administrative decision-making

* Any plans to expand or redesign services

* Long-range plans that might affect the hospital's information needs

Remember, as with all 2004 standards, your organization will be required to conduct the periodic performance review (mid-cycle self evaluation) and develop action plans for any noncompliant elements of performance. At the time of the on-site survey, surveyors will validate compliance with IM.1.10 as a result of the periodic performance review and through the patient and systems tracer portion of the survey.

With the correct methods for planning and implementing processes and systems within the facility, your organization can easily conform to IM.1.10.

This week's excerpt is from the book, "The IM Standards Made Simple: The compliance guide to the JCAHO Standards, Fourth Edition," by Jean S. Clark, RHIA. Click here http://www.hcmarketplace.com/Prod.cfm?id=1955&s=EHIMC to order or learn more.

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